Darkoshi

How I can go from just looking up when the Notre Dame Cathedral fire was (2019!), to looking/reading about gargoyles, grotesques, a rooster reliquary which "miraculously" survived, the Last Judgement, the Babylonian Talmud, Babylon...
and what makes a church a cathedral.

The Last Judgement part was the longest read and left me wondering if Christians believe someone can to to Heaven after death but then end up consigned to Hell after the Last Judgement. So then I looked up that, and ended up reading various people's inconsistent and contrasting beliefs on that and similar topics on Quora. Ugh.

That is not how I wanted to spend the last two and a half hours, dang it.

Yay, it's the weekend, and I finished my work for work before midnight today!

It's been very much Spring here the last couple weeks.
Daffodils are yellow.
Pink magnolia blossoms bloomed but they're already gone and replaced by small light green leaves.
Yellow jessamine is yellow.
Bradford pear blossoms are pungent.
Little fig tree leaves are light green and fuzzy.
I wore knee-shorts today and sat outside working for a while. Can do that for now still as the mosquitos aren't out in force yet.

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Catchy headline: Busted Plug Towed Away

I didn't know the giant fire hydrant art installation was called "Busted Plug". I'm saddened to hear it's been moved away... but hopefully it will be put up somewhere else in a good spot.

It had been here since 2001: Busted Plug Plaza, in the same parking lot as the iconic Tunnelvision mural and the haybales mural. I enjoyed seeing it whenever I drove downtown.

Here's a short video showing it from multiple angles: Roadside Buzz - Busted Plug, Columbia, SC
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This "Ra Obelisk" is an artwork here in town I'd not heard of nor visited before. About the hieroglyphs painted on the sides, the article states:
Some of the symbols translate to the titles of Beatles songs “Here Comes the Sun” and “All You Need is Love.” The artist would not give the meaning to the message on the right side, only saying it was an ancient concept and invited others to try to translate it.

That prompted me to try deciphering the right side. The best I could come up with is this:
Peace | The angels are real | They love you

I am not certain that is the message the artist intended; I didn't find a decipherment of the message posted anywhere on the web. I did find that the artist, Richard Lane, died in 1998. That is mentioned in this booklet: Sarah Leverette : South Carolina lawyer, teacher, mentor, ground breaker.

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Another catchy headline: “Flying car” company to enter US market in partnership with Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE)

"Mississippi Goddam" by Nina Simone
Recording session: Live in Antibes, July 24-25, 1965.



Video title: Nina Simone: Mississippi Goddam
Posted by: Aaron Overfield
Date posted: Feb 26, 2013

MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY - Sundance Film Festival: Columbia

Overlooked by history, Pauli Murray was a legal trailblazer whose ideas influenced RBG's fight for gender equality and Thurgood Marshall's landmark civil rights arguments. Featuring never-before-seen footage and audio recordings, a portrait of Murray's impact as a non-binary Black luminary: lawyer, activist, poet, and priest who transformed our world.

The "non-binary" descriptor caught my attention. While we can only guess what currently-used descriptors someone in the past might have used for themself, and I'm not familiar with Pauli's own writings, the Wikipedia page on Pauli Murray describes them more as a trans-man than a non-binary person.

I'm curious to watch the movie, but it doesn't appear to be available yet through streaming, and I don't feel like going to the Sundance showing at the local theater. It sounds like that will be indoors, with social distancing and mask wearing.

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Biden wastes no time shooting down Trump guidelines on LGBTQ rights

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This Kazakh music video is both visually and audibly (the sound of the Kazakh language) intriguing to me, even though I don't like the scenes of war and fighting. From what I've been able to find, it was made in honor of Kazakhstan's 550th anniversary. The music group is named Gauhartas.



Video title: Гаухартас- "Казагым-ай" (клип 2015) (Gauhartas "Kazagim-ay")
Posted by: Айганым Баймуратова
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FlBCJbb2oo
Date posted: Oct 23, 2015


Here are the lyrics along with an English translation. Some of the translation does not make much sense, and Google Translate seems to do a better job for those parts.

Some things I learned after watching the video:
Kazakhstan has a small ethnic group of Germans.
The Volga Germans were ethnic Germans who settled in a region of Russia in the 18th century.
About 100,000 ethnic Germans from Russia immigrated to the U.S. by 1900.
During WW2, the Soviet Union deported all of the Volga Germans (over 900,000) to camps in Siberia and Kazakhstan as a "preventive measure". A third of them died during the deportation.

From the Jackson Criterion (Nebraska), Apr 13, 1899:

Estrayed on to my premises, about three miles west of Goodwin on or about March 15th, one iron gray mare about five years old, weighing about 1050 pounds. Owner will please prove property, pay charges and take same away. Cost of advertising this notice to be paid at the Criterion office. J.S. Clauson.
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Andrew Anderson has completed his new dwelling house and has the most beautiful and comfortable home in the precinct.

Miss Hannah Casey who has been visiting friends here the past week, returned to her home at Waterbury, Wednesday.

Sarah Casey, Mamie Curran, Julia Manau and Mary Nichols have returned to Sioux City after spending Easter here.

While Geo. Monger was shooting at some geese the gun bursted, but lucky did no harm, only a few bruises on George's hand.

Mrs. Thos. Curran and sister, Mrs. Jno. O'Neill, visited their mother Mrs. Casey of Waterbury a few days the forepart of the week.

John H. Martin of Pender visited here a few days ago. Mr. Martin said his son W.C. was at his home in Pender at present, and feeling very good, but will have to undergo an operation in two weeks for appendicitis.

Milton McTaggard who has purchased the James Crohen farm has moved here from Iowa onto it. Mr. McTaggard four years ago was a resident of this place, and we feel happy to have him back again.

Every potato will slyly wink its eye, every beet will get red in the face, every onion will feel stronger, every oat field will be shocked, the rye will stroke its beard, the corn will stick up its ear and every foot of land will kick over the out come of the new school district.

I wondered if that last bit was from a poem. It seems to have been a newspaper meme.

The Dalles weekly chronicle, Oregon
Oct. 16, 1891
https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2003260222/1891-10-16/ed-1/seq-4.pdf

In Kansas mile after mile of side track is filled with cars loaded with wheat awaiting a chance to get into the markets. This fact seems to quiet the prating of those fellow who have been telling about the mortgages which these farmers couldn't pay. The Kansas papers seem to be having a picnic over these reports. It has gone thus far up to date:

When alliance orators talk about Kansas starving to death, every individual potato winks its eye. -State Journal.
And every stalk of corn pricks up its ears. -Wichita Eagle.
And every cabbage nods its head. -Lawrence Journal.
And every beet gets red in the face. -Clay Center Times.
And every squash crooks its neck. -Clyde Argus.
And every onion grows stronger. -Clifton Review.
And every fruit tree groans under its load. -Minneapolis Commercial.
And every field of wheat is shocked. -Leavenworth Times

Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's Magazine, Volume 16, 1892
https://books.google.com/books?id=kyEqAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13

And the rye strokes its beard. -Philadelphia Press.
And every corn aches. -Millstone.
And every foot of land kicks. -Chicago Tribune.
And railroad stock bellows for more water.

The Rural New-Yorker, Volume 51, 1892
https://books.google.com/books?id=OjhHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA485&lpg=PA485

And the rye strokes is beard. -Farm Journal
And the egg plant gets purple with rage, the celery turns pale -- the cucumber only keeps cool.

Hearing reports about the current opioid epidemic has always made me wonder how bad it is compared to the crack and cocaine epidemics in the 1980s and 90s. So I found some graphs with statistics.

Drug Epidemics: Now and Then - the 3rd graph shows the overdose death rates from 1970 to 2005. The rates increased about 700% during that time, while the first 2 graphs show that it continued to increase steeply since then.

Unlike the current opioid epidemic – which has captured our attention due to the number of overdoses – deaths directly associated with crack ingestion were minimal. Overdose deaths associated with crack did increase from the early 80’s to the early 90’s, but the numbers pale in comparison to opioid overdoses today. It was the indirect effects of crack that proved to be so devastating.
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The consequence was significantly increased homicides, particularly in adolescents. Plus, strict new drug laws plucked inner-city residents from their homes and communities and sent them to jail for many years, making it even more difficult for the families left behind. This also made it hard to integrate back into society following a felony drug charge. Taken together with actual drug overdoses, it’s likely that the crack epidemic cost as many lives if not more than what society is witnessing today with the opioid epidemic.

Drug Deaths in America Are Rising Faster Than Ever - has a graph showing drug overdose deaths from 1980 to 2016.

Homicide trends in the United States - lots of graphs and statistics about homicides in the U.S. between 1976 and 2005. Homicide rates spiked up during the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and have mostly decreased since then. (Unfortunately, the links in the PDF don't seem to work.)

Crime in the United States (1995–2014) - a table showing reduction in violent crime during that time period.

So in summary, in the 70s, 80s, and 90s there weren't that many overdoses, but were a lot of homicides, many of which were gang and drug-related. Whereas now, there are about half as many homicides, but way more overdose deaths.

I had never heard about this before. The first piece on it which I read this evening left me thinking it must be a fake story. But unfortunately, like most things about human history, it's not fake.

Tulsa, 1921 - 1921 article by Walter White for The Nation

TULSA RACE RIOT - Oklahoma Historical Society

A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 - a very detailed report from 2001, with photos, which I haven't had time to read.

Wikipedia article - Summary:

The Tulsa race riot, or Tulsa race riot of 1921, occurred between May 31–June 1, 1921, when a white mob started attacking residents and businesses of the African-American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in what is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the history of the United States. The attack, carried out on the ground and by air, destroyed more than 35 blocks of the district, at the time the wealthiest black community in the nation. More than 800 people were admitted to hospitals and more than 6,000 black residents were arrested and detained, many for several days. The Oklahoma Bureau of Vital Statistics officially recorded 39 dead, but the American Red Cross estimated 300, a number supported by historians since then.

It goes like this:

Last night:
Check TV guide to see what's on TV.
PBS is showing "1916 - The Irish Rebellion. The story of the Easter Rising rebellion...."
Do a search on something related to that. Irish Volunteers, etc.
Skim various pages.
Start wondering if the U2 song "Bloody Sunday" refers to the Easter Rising.
Do a search.
Oh. There are a whole bunch of Bloody Sundays.
One of them: Stanislawow Ghetto Bloody Sunday massacre, a massacre of 10,000 to 12,000 Jews before the Stanisławów Ghetto announcement.
Read about horrors.
Ghettos, concentration camps, mass killings, mass graves.
Click links; read about more horrors.

I never can wrap my mind around it. In a way, I don't want to. That's why I try to avoid the topic. But for my own sanity, I want to understand it. How could such things happen? How could people come to commit such atrocities? I'm terrified of it happening again. I'm terrified that it is happening, constantly around the world, in smaller versions. How can I be safe? How can I be sure that I'd never be involved in such a thing? What control do I have over the things my government is doing? Am I really any different from the average German civilian back then?

And it also puzzles me, in reading some things, as to why the victims didn't fight back more? Some parts I can understand. If soldiers come for you and your family with guns, yes, you're likely to do what they say rather than to be shot to death right there. Maybe going where they tell you to go, will let you survive in the end.

But I have a hard time understanding the mass shootings. Surely it can't be that 10,000 people would stand together in a crowd, letting themselves be shot to death, for hours on end, as some of those articles imply? Surely they would have surged forward against the shooters, knowing that death was imminent anyway? Were the shooters up on walls? Wouldn't piles of dead bodies would have gotten in the way of further shooting? Did the shooters take breaks so that the bodies could be moved out of the way? Were the Jews so starved and demoralized by that point, that they welcomed death? Who would want to remain living in a world like that?

And it wasn't only Jews being killed. There were mass killings of ethnic Poles too, by both the Nazis and the Soviets. And masses of people being deported to Soviet labor camps. How could mass killings be so common back then? How could people so callously disregard life? Was it a state of mind? That to have revolutions and change society, you need to kill the existing society that stands in your way?

The German side of my family came from the area right near Poland, so that's another reason I'm often drawn to reading about these kinds of things.

After over an hour of that, I managed to make myself to switch gears, and return to doing my taxes.

Today:

Read an email about local events.
One event is "South Carolina survivors and victims of the Holocaust".
Am reminded of that first page I read last night. I bring up the page again, and read it again. Again trying to wrap my mind around it. Yesterday wasn't the first time I'd read those kinds of things. But as many times as I read them, it seems I'll never be able to come to terms with them.

Clicked some other links related to the history of Germany before World War II. Republic, unification, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdoms, duchies... All of history seems to be full of wars and fighting and horrors. I've always hated history.

Here I sit, in my peaceful house, in front of my computer. Relatively clean, fed, clothed, and warm. Even if I'm not particularly enjoying life, it's not particularly bad.

But the world is full of horrors, and I'm quietly terrified that someday they will strike me personally, and this relatively peaceful world will be blown to bits.

I like the implication of the pronoun on this mailing.

"Our next president will face many challenges and difficult decisions. But they will also inherit our nation's proud legacy of helping those in need."